Commanding Hope

This is a book to inspire us and encourage us to take action against the very real threats of climate change, nationalist authoritarianism, and economic instability. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Thomas Homer-Dixon directed the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto before joining the faculty at the University of Waterloo where he founded the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation.

He argues for hope that is honest, astute and powerful. A clear vision is needed based on understanding the grim realities that face humanity. We have to reconcile honesty and hope. A distinction is made between the passivity of ‘hope that’ and the proactive ‘hope to’. I loved the quotation from Gabriel Marcel: ‘Hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism.’ The kind of hope Thomas advocates is one that leads us out of despair and resignation and into positive action.

Uncertainty, though often a cause of fear, creates the space for hope and its partner, imagination. He writes: ‘Imagination . . is a continually unfolding mental experiment that’s oriented towards the future, towards opening up possibility; it’s engaged and active.’ Thomas notes that there have been ‘leaps’ in social systems such as the end of apartheid and the fall of the Soviet Union that were not foreseen.

The problems we face as humanity are pressing and yet are largely being ignored. ‘For all intents and purposes we have behaved like a voracious superorganism, spreading across the planet’s surface and multiplying our numbers, activities and artefacts to fill almost all the useful space in the biosphere’ and ‘throughout our species’ history we’ve consistently displaced our problems beyond what I call our ‘awareness horizon’.’

Alongside the stresses climate change is imposing on our biophysical systems, Thomas outlines the ‘tectonic stresses’ affecting our social systems such as widening inequality and the rise of authoritarian leaders. Techno-optimists cannot offer us real solutions to these problems which require us to realise that ‘humanity’s problems will only be manageable at a deeper social level, when humanity actually perceives itself, at last, as a whole – as an interdependent species confronting a common fate.’

What stands in the way of the change of worldview that the author advocates are vested interests. Those who hold the most social power tend to resist radical change and prefer to tinker at the edges. Worldviews underpin institutions and their technologies impact the physical environment. The interrelation of these three entities creates a worldview-institution-technology (WIT) and these WITs can be seen as ‘the primary ’unit of selection’ in the evolution of our societies.’

The WITs that rule our world today are no longer fit for purpose and need to be ‘selected out’ and replaced by ones that will enable human and other than human flourishing. The belief in economic growth is obsolete. It is still seen as providing happiness, freedom, and peace as well as social mobility, but today it is no longer viable given the degradation of our planet. ‘Today’s conventional growth can end voluntarily, if we deliberately move the global economy onto a new path through economic and social innovation . . ; or it can end involuntarily – probably with social catastrophe in its wake. But either way it will end.’ Thomas offers a quotation from the cartoonist, Walt Kelly which I find very pertinent: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

So how do we find solutions that are both enough to make a real difference and are feasible? Thomas notes that people are now more pessimistic about the future than previously. He believes that understanding the worldviews of those who deny climate change can help us to engage with them more effectively. The University of Waterloo has developed some tools to map different worldviews. State space maps ideological differences and cognitive affective maps show where an individual stands on a variety of issues. I found these innovative ways to map our mental and emotional inner landscapes very helpful.

Homer-Dixon proposes four principles upon which we could base a new universal worldview. They are opportunity, safety, justice and a shared global identity. As our world crisis deepens, opportunities for change increase. ‘This weakening (or even breakdown) of the current order creates possibilities for ’catagenesis’ . . . which is a process of rebirth through breakdown.’ Ultimately the issues humanity could come together around would be love for our children and the wish to provide a viable life for them. Better still would be a love for all life on this extraordinary planet.

Thomas Homer-Dixon ends the book on an upbeat note with a call to action: ‘Let’s not aim for what’s merely feasible and falsely hope it will be enough. Instead, with commanding hope, let’s aim for what we’d all consider enough – a future in which our children and life on this planet can flourish – and then strive to make that future our reality.’